Available online
Description
In the second film in the series, we see how the freewheeling modernism that had shocked, scandalised and titillated audiences in the Twentieth Century's first two decades comes under state control.... Initially many practitioners thought the totalitarian regimes would be good for music and the arts. What followed in Germany was a ban on music written by Jews, African-Americans and communists; in the Soviet Union a prohibition on music the workers were unable to hum. In the USA, meanwhile, many composers voluntarily embraced music for the masses. After the cataclysm of the 1940s, a new generation of 20-something composers - Boulez, Stockhausen, Xenakis, Nono, Ligeti - turned their back on what they saw as the discredited music of the past, and decided to try and reinvent it from scratch. Or, at least, from 'Seralism', which became, as the 1950s wore on, as much a straitjacket as the strictures of totalitarianism had been before. But from this period of avant-garde experimentation - which many listeners found baffling, even terrifying -came some of the most influential, as well as radical musical innovations of the century. The story is told by a musical cast list including Pierre Boulez, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Peter Maxwell-Davies, Harrison Birtwistle and John Adams.
In the second film in the series, we see how the freewheeling modernism that had shocked, scandalised and titillated audiences in the Twentieth Century's first two decades comes under state control.... Initially many practitioners thought the totalitarian regimes would be good for music and the arts. What followed in Germany was a ban on music written by Jews, African-Americans and communists; in the Soviet Union a prohibition on music the workers were unable to hum. In the USA, meanwhile, many composers voluntarily embraced music for the masses. After the cataclysm of the 1940s, a new generation of 20-something composers - Boulez, Stockhausen, Xenakis, Nono, Ligeti - turned their back on what they saw as the discredited music of the past, and decided to try and reinvent it from scratch. Or, at least, from 'Seralism', which became, as the 1950s wore on, as much a straitjacket as the strictures of totalitarianism had been before. But from this period of avant-garde experimentation - which many listeners found baffling, even terrifying -came some of the most influential, as well as radical musical innovations of the century. The story is told by a musical cast list including Pierre Boulez, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Peter Maxwell-Davies, Harrison Birtwistle and John Adams.
| Series: | The sound and the fury |
|---|---|
| Episode | 2 |
| First transmission date: | 19-02-2013 |
| Original broadcast channel: | BBC4 |
| Published: | 2013 |
| Rights Statement: | |
| Restrictions on use: | |
| Duration: | 00:59:12 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | Ian MacMillan |
| Contributors: | John Adams; Harrison Birtwistle; Pierre Boulez; Peter Maxwell-Davies; Michael Tilson-Thomas |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Link to related site: | BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01qqrqm OU website: http://www.open.edu/openlearn/whats-on/tv/ou-on-the-bbc-the-sound-and-the-fury |
| Production number: | FKIA547H |
| Videofinder number: | 83457 |
| Available to public: | no |
